The
Concord Coalition said today that it welcomes President Obama’s White House
summit on fiscal responsibility and urged participants to seek common ground on
key challenges rather than erect barriers to constructive solutions. Concord
will be represented at the summit by Executive Director Robert L. Bixby.
Concord’s President, Peter G. Peterson, will also participate in his capacity
as founder of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

“No
one should expect a grand bargain to result from one meeting. However, this
summit is a valuable opportunity to build consensus on the magnitude of our
fiscal challenges, the need to make trade-offs among competing priorities and
the importance of acting sooner rather than later. With the deficit shooting up
to record levels, the administration and Congress need to show that there is an
exit strategy. The summit, followed by the President’s budget, should begin
that process,” Bixby said.

One
tangible goal of the summit would be for participants to agree on a general set
of principles similar to those endorsed by members of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour.
While acknowledging diverse perspectives on the appropriate mix of spending,
taxes and debt, Wake-Up Tour participants all agree that:

Current
fiscal policy is unsustainable.

There
are no quick and easy solutions, such as cutting waste fraud and abuse or
growing our way out of the problem.

Finding solutions will require bipartisan
cooperation and a willingness to discuss all options.

Public
engagement and understanding is vital in finding solutions.

It
is not about numbers. It is about generational stewardship.

The Fiscal Wake Up Tour is a joint initiative of
The Concord Coalition, the Budgeting for National Priorities Project at the
Brookings Institution, The Heritage Foundation and the Peter G. Peterson
Foundation.

“It
is very important that the summit not be a one-and-done event. To be credible,
there must be some commitment to a process leading to action. Since the regular
legislative process has been incapable of dealing with the impending fiscal
crisis, the best way forward may be a bipartisan commission or task force. This
could be a useful mechanism to break the gridlock if it is truly bipartisan,
involves the public, and leads to an up or down vote in Congress with limited
amendments allowed. We don’t need another study commission. Good models have
been proposed by Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and
Representatives Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Frank Wolf (R-VA),” Bixby said.

Concord
underscored that because the choices to be faced are politically difficult, the
active involvement of the American people is critical. Without greater
understanding of the problem among the public, community leaders, business
leaders and state and local officials, elected leaders in Washington are
unlikely to break out of their usual talking points -- and unlikely to find
solutions.

“The
Fiscal Wake-Up Tour groups are eager to assist in public engagement efforts. We
have been at it for more than three years. Our experience is that when
audiences are told the facts and the consequences of inaction, particularly for
future generations, they are eager to discuss solutions and willing to accept
the need for tradeoffs. The major stumbling block is not apathy or selfishness
but lack of trust in their leaders. The cure for that is a more honest dialogue
about the challenges we face and less partisan bickering. Perhaps the summit
will help bring this about. It’s a ray of hope in a pretty grim picture,” Bixby
said.

[To watch the opening remarks from the summit, click here (closing remarks can be found here)]

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The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to
balanced federal budgets and generationally responsible fiscal policy. Former
U.S. Senators Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE) serve as Concord's
co-chairs and former Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson serves as president.